


Becoming Thunderbird One

by HedwigsTalons



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, Grief, aftermath of a death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HedwigsTalons/pseuds/HedwigsTalons
Summary: The aftermath of Scott's passing (no description of death) and some of the changes the family have to make.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Becoming Thunderbird One

“Alan, are you okay?”

Ever since he had passed Alan the suit for the final fitting Alan has become withdrawn, barely there in the room with him, and the change had worried Virgil. Of course, they were all different now but the moments of dissociation were becoming fewer and further apart as time drifted on.

“Al, you still with me?”

“Huh, oh, yeah.” 

Okay, a response was better than the chilled silence but the definite crack in the voice showed him that Alan was barely holding it together.

“Is it the fit? We can get the shoulder armour put back if you want.”

Alan looked at himself in the mirror. It wasn’t the fit. The suit moulded perfectly to his form, the body scans had seen to that, and his old one was definitely too restrictive after his latest growth spurt. But the whole thing was just wrong. It had made sense to make the upgrades at this point, the shoulder guards now more a hindrance than a help although he noted he still had the familiar chest plate. Overprotective older brothers. He knew the new uniform was more practical, had known that the changes were happening, he just hadn’t been ready for….this.

“It’s...it’s not the guards.”

“So what is it. Please Al.”

Silence.

Then slowly, as though fearful it might burn or something, Alan reached up. The fingers of his left hand gently brushed his right sleeve, his body turning slightly so he could see his side properly in the mirror.

Oh.

The patch.

Gone was the familiar red rocket on its background of stars. In its place the silver profile of the ship that should never have been his.

“I can’t do it Virg.” The voice cracked and the sob spilled out. “I can’t be him.”

In a moment Virgil was across the room, enveloping that smaller form, hugging him tight. His own tears threatened to spill as he realised the problem and he made no attempt to hold them back.

Of course there had been changes. The launch chute behind the twin lights had been recalibrated. Alan’s uniform fitted to the spinners instead of Scott’s. Swapping the patch was the final act; confirmation that things would never be the same again.

Thunderbird One was forever changed.

“It’s okay Alan. No one is asking you to be him. No one could ever be him.”

“I just want him back.”

The shakes that wracked the young body became more violent as a fresh wave of grief rolled over the astronaut. Except he wasn’t an astronaut any more. Not really. Not since that fateful day when Scott came home for the final time, never to launch again. 

Virgil’s heart broke afresh, his own redesignation as the oldest cutting deeply. 

“Me too, Al. Me too.”


End file.
